More than 200 languages have vanished in India over the last 50 years, a new study says, blaming urban migration and fear among nomadic tribes of speaking their traditional tongues. The extensive study, conducted throughout the country over four years and released this week, ...

Clifton Strickler never thought of coming to Japan until he met his boss at the University of Texas while engaged in an undergraduate work-study. His boss lived in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, teaching English with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. For Strickler, the JET ...

Shigeru Kayano, one of the most well-known and respected Ainu figures of modern times, writes in his autobiography “Our Land Was a Forest” about the loathing he felt as a young man for the shamo (Japanese) researchers who used to visit his village and ...

Bottlenose dolphins can remember each other’s signature whistles for more than 20 years, a new study says — the longest social memory ever observed in an animal. Elephants have long been credited with the animal kingdom’s best memory, but evidence for that was anecdotal, ...

With nearly 40 years of experience as an English-Japanese interpreter, 69-year-old Mariko Nagai has worked for a number of important figures from various fields. Nagai has attended numerous summits as an interpreter for prime ministers, in which her role was to interpret what the ...

In last month’s column, I looked at the origins of several famous Japanese product brands. Thinking back, perhaps the very first brand I noticed here was a confectioner named 文明堂 (Bunmeido). The company, a 老舗 (shinise, well-established shop), was founded in Nagasaki in 1900, ...